Miss Annie Fernackerpan!

Congratulations on passing your physical with the London Metro Plod Dept.

Well done girl - you will be the best baddie getter in the whole of the "Smoke"

Onward and upward!

One day I expect you will be Chief Inspector Annie Fannie!

You go girl!

Love

Auntie Pee

Some Days are Good!

Well, yesterday started off well and got even better as the day went along. How good is that, then?

Nurse Phyllis came in the morning and spent an about an hour filling out the paper work necessary for Mr. Indi's Home Health Care services - including physical therapy, occupational therapy, a social worker and (with a bit of luck) some home help for me! Yea! One of the things that she is going to strongly recommend is a hospital bed. It will make it much easier for his Lordship to sit up while eating and for me to raise and lower the bed to help him on and off his posh potty. I'm not sure about where and how I am going to store the queen size bed where Mr. Indi now resides - I will probably get Jesus to help me stack it in the garage. Nurse Phyllis promised that we should be hearing from all of the people involved with Mr. Indi's care by the middle of next week.

Nurse P made me laugh - she kept remarking on how organized and knowledgeable I am. She was amazed that I have typed up records of Mr. Indi's medications with dosages - Mr. Indi's doctors with phone and fax numbers - Times and dates of Mr. Indi's past and future appts for chemo, blood work, etc. She asked me if I want a job! HaHa! Not bloody likely! What is funny is that if she saw my little corner of the family room that I call my office, she would think a bomb had dropped on it! LOL. It looks like an explosion in a paper factory!

The next great thing that happened was a surprise email from my daughter with a little video clip of my beautiful granddaughter on the evening news giving her views on the environment! I had missed her on the news - even though it was on the channel that I usually watch - must have been making dinner. She looks just as beautiful on the tele as she does in real life.

I picked up the mail from the mailbox and there was a letter from a legal firm - Oh Oh ! What have I done now? But, I was pleasantly surprised to open it and find a check for $64. Wow - how did we deserve that? - it's enough for a few lunches! - Well, a long time ago, we had joined a class-action law suit against a certain credit card firm who had been over charging for the exchange rate on purchases made in Europe between 1997 and 2004. We had been to England on several occasions during that time frame and so we filled in the paper work and forgot all about it! Well, I guess we won the law suit and we are now $64 richer!

Today's picture was taken in 2006 when Mr. Indi and I visited the 17 mile Drive in Pacific Grove/Carmel, California. It is a stunning area of the California coastline and Linda, this picture is for you because I know you love the sea.

Spikes, Scallops, and Flat Tires!

Well, I'm sorry to report that there is no pink spiky hair today! I hope you enjoy the pink hibiscus instead! I got into the car at 7:45 a.m. for the quick trip down to Peggy's shop and set off down my road which is on a bit of a hill. Thumpety - thumpety - thumpety. Wow, I thought, this car is running a bit rough! Duh. I pulled over when I got to the bottom of the hill - ran round the car and, sure enough, the left rear tire was flatter than my chest! Grrrr!

I made an illegal u-turn in the middle of the road and headed back to the house. I dived out of my car and into his Lordship's clunky old auto. His car has been sitting in the driveway for several weeks and even though I start it up about once a week, it still runs like a clunky old hunk of junk! But, I really needed a haircut - so off I went and made it to my appt just in time. I was in too much of a bad mood to start messing about with spikes or other fashionable modifications to the mane - so I told Peg - Just give me a chop job and I will be back for the spikes in February. Watch this space.

I was back home in less than 45 mins and after checking on his Lordship - who was reading the paper - called AAA to come and change my tire and put the spare on for me. Thank heavens for the Auto Club. I would be up a tree without them. Now it was off to the tire store, where we bought these rubbish tires just over a year ago, to get the puncture fixed. They checked my paper work and everything was under warranty so everything was done free - but it wasted an hour and a half of my time while I sat and worried if his Lordship was managing OK by himself. By the time I got home it was 11:30 and nothing had been done - Grrr!

Now, the good news - S came and took some measurements in order to help me work with a company that makes ramps - should I decided to do that. Also, a nice nurse called and will be out at the house at 10:00 this morning to assess Mr. Indi's situation and determine his needs for physical therapy, etc - Yea! The cavalry is almost here!

I made a fabulous dinner last night. I made up the recipe myself and if anyone likes sea scallops, garlic, mushrooms, white wine, lemons, butter and cilantro - drop me a note and I'll write down the recipe. Mr. Indi loved it - and he's not a big seafood lover - unlike me who would eat anything - and I mean anything - that comes from the sea. We had my dish - that I call Scallops a Yum Yum with rice pilaf and fresh asparagus. As my sis would say "Bloody Loverly."

I hope to have lots of news once our nurse has been - stay tuned.

The Things We Do For Love!

Mr. Indi stayed in bed all day yesterday except for taking a couple of steps to get onto his posh commode that I bought him. He just doesn't trust his legs to go any further and has lost all use of the left one.

I bought the posh potty chair at a medical supply store in nearby Corona. The man who runs the store, Richard, is one of the nicest, kindest blokes you could wish to meet. He has MS and has a bit of a struggle to get about but is a lovely cheerful soul who is always very helpful. I was pleasantly surprised that the commode didn't cost too much - $45. I had looked for them on the web and could find nothing cheaper than about $60. Of course, I could have purchased the antique one that I saw advertised - the one with the inlaid veneer cabinet and English china potty for $200 - but Mr. Indi's bum isn't worth it!

I must admit that I would never have chosen "hospital orderly" as a career and still don't place it very high on my list of fun jobs to do. Without going into details, I had to go back out to the store and buy several cans of air freshener - a couple of containers of bleach wipes - and a clothes peg for my nose! But, I mustn't complain - at least all of Mr. Indi's bodily functions seem to be working like a finely tuned machine! Twice a day!

I have taken to having a lunch break each day. Once I get his Lordship fed and tucked in - I go down the road and sit in the corner of one of my favorite restaurants and have lunch and a beer. I take my writing pad and pens with me because I have got back into writing my book that I started about 5 years ago. It's my story of how a 15 year old girl found herself to be in a home for unmarried mothers and the stories of some of those mothers and their heartbreak at giving up their precious babies. I like to write and am finding my lunch time scribbles are quite therapeutic - gets my head into a different place for a little while. I mean, JK Rowling made a mint by scribbling in coffee shops and cafes - why not me?

I am going to get my mane shorn this morning - at 8:00 a.m. - I hope Mr. Indi doesn't get a visitation requiring the commode while I'm away - but I shouldn't be too long. I'm thinking of having my hair spiked. I quite like old ladies with spiky funky hair. I shall ask Peggy what she thinks. And, if it looks good - maybe I'll get the ends bleached pink! Hey - stop laughing!

Santa Ana winds are back - blowing a gale this morning - gusts predicted to 70 mph - fire danger will be high. I hope you like this picture of clouds. I think I may have posted it before - oh well - I like it anyway!

January 28th - Sadness.

Today, I am posting a picture of my 3 beautiful children when they were little - long ago! 12 years ago today, my lovely elder daughter, the one in the middle, died. She was 35 and left behind a 7 year old son. I will love her and miss her forever. Love you Julie xxxxx

Mr. Indi's brother showed up at 8:00 am on the dot yesterday and, between us, we got Mr. Indi into the car and set off on our trek to parts unknown in downtown Riverside. I wasn't really sure where this Dr. Clarke's office was but managed to find it without too much trouble. It's in one of those huge medical complexes with 8000 doctor's offices and parking for 25 people! Anyhow, we got his Lordship out of the car at the front door and then I went and found a parking spot. We soon found Dr. Clarke's office and didn't wait too long to see him and let me say - What a nice, kind and patient man.

He explained that Mr. Indi's problem is very complicated. The bone cancer that has invaded his spine would normally eat away at the bones of the spine but in 2 areas of Mr. Indi's spine, the cancer has actually invaded the spinal cord cells causing irreparable damage and leading to paralysis. There is a surgical procedure that could be performed but because of the way that the damage has been done, it would mean going in through Mr. Indi's chest, rib cage, and past his lungs to get to the front part of his spine; a very difficult and risky operation with no guarantee of the outcome. Something to think about.

Before making any decisions though, Dr. Clarke wants Mr. Indi to have another MRI and a series of spinal x-rays. I don't know how I am going to get him to the MRI place but I'll cross that bridge when I come to it. Our patient advocate is working on getting the insurance company to pay for ambulance transportation - fingers crossed.

After getting back home and saying our goodbyes to R, I set off to get prescriptions filled and find out if the missing blood had shown up - or if that nurse had turned out to be a vampire and drank the stuff! Well, the blood results report has been found and is on somebody's desk somewhere in Rancho Cucamonga. I don't know what Mr. Indi's numbers are and Dina was too busy with patients to bother her - I shall call and find out today. I got the prescriptions and also got a new one - this time for Ambien. Mr. Indi is not getting the sleep that he needs and I hope this will help him.

I got into a bit of a bind when it was time for Mr. Indi to go back to bed (he had been up and watched tele for an hour around 6:00 pm.) I got him back to the bedroom and he just couldn't stand up out of his chair and get into the bed. The legs were gone - kaput - shot! Grr. I went next door and got my dear Jesus and he came straight over and helped me push his Lordship into the bed. I'm beginning to feel that he will be staying in bed from here on out. I don't know how to move him. I am so frustrated, I could scream!

Jesus stayed around for a while and sat on the edge of the bed and shot the breeze with Mr. Indi for a while. We were so upset to learn that he has been laid off from his job of 16 years. He and his lovely wife, Lourdes, have 3 teenagers to feed and he doesn't know how his is going to make it. Damned recession is hurting hard working people. Anyway, when I go to the super market today, I will get them a gift card so that they can stock up on a few things. It's the least I can do as Jesus is always so good to us.

I'm late doing the blog today because I fell asleep on the couch at 4:30 am after having an awful night. But, am feeling a bit more refreshed now. Onward and upward.

Got Any Crabs?

I called the oncologist's office to check on the results of Mr. Indi's blood tests that he had last Thursday and Lo and Behold! There are no results and nobody knows where the blood tests went or who to call to get the results. So, once again, just as I think that things are starting to move - we hit another wall. I shall personally go to the oncologist's office myself after I get Mr. Indi home from the neuro-surgeon, partly to see if they have had any luck tracking down the results and partly to get Dina to write some prescriptions for morphine and some anxiety medicine.

Yesterday was a fairly quiet day with his Lordship spending most of the day on the bed. Rather than order more books to read from Amazon (The Ra Expeditions) he decided to tackle some of the hundreds of books here at the house that he has yet to read. He picked up Ghost Soldiers - a true story of the Japanese prison camp at Cabanatuan in the Philippines and includes details of the Bataan Death March! Hmmm! Not my cup of tea but he says it's very good - and also very sad. No kidding!

Today we go to see the neuro-surgeon and it is an appt that I am not looking forward to at all. I think there is nothing left to be done to help Mr. Indi except to make him comfortable - I don't think that that can be accomplished by spinal surgery. We'll see. Mr. Indi's brother will be here at 8:00 am to help me get him into the car. The docs office is about 15 miles away - so should get there in plenty of time for 9:00 am appt. The wind is blowing a gale and I hope it dies down when the sun comes up. Wish us luck.

Today's picture is one that I took of one of the breakwaters at Newport Beach - the kids are all looking in the tide pools for hermit crabs and other critters on a lovely September day.

Keeping Your Wine Safe!

Well, now I've heard it all - Did you know that you can now buy an earthquake-proof wine rack that will keep your tipple safe up to a 7.0 mag earthquake! Well, who'd a thunk it? I must run out and buy one.

Yesterday was a good day for a thorough scrub down. Mr. Indi can no longer stand at the sink and so between the two of us we invented a washbowl holder to strap onto his walker using a square washbowl and some bungee cords. I have a long spraying hose thingy in the sink (designed for rinsing off dishes) and - with his Lordship sitting in his push chair and his head over the bowl - I was able to give him a nice shampoo and set. He then did his upper ablutions and I worked on the feet and legs. The only thing left was the 3 piece suite which I scrubbed up a treat and got rid of the finger marks!

A dab of this and a squeeze of that - some clean clothes and he was ready for anything. Well, almost!

By the afternoon - I had pushed My husband up and down the hallway at least 8 times and, when he wasn't in the push chair he was in the bed - I was getting totally fed up and knackered and so I called my son and asked if they could come over and give me a hand - in exchange for roast pork with roasties and sprouts! Roasties - Roasties - One whiff of roasties and they were on their way. My son would sell his grandmother for some roasties. (* My son would come over even without roasties!)

Mr. Indi spent most of the rest of the day in bed except for getting up to eat dinner - Mr. Indi doesn't eat roasties - how sick is that? Everything was going well until we tried to get his Lordship into the comfy chair and he took a mis-step and fell. Bang! My son is not a big chap and was unable to pick Mr. Indi up - and so I once again ran over to Jesus - who, as luck would have it had just come home from a basketball game. Jesus got his Lordship up into his push chair and from there we got him into the big comfy chair. Jesus is an angel.

D and I were happy that I had bought a new bottle of Baileys and after we had our dessert - Baileys over ice - we got Mr. Indi in bed and my helpers left for home. I was so thankful for the company and the assistance. Peace and quiet reigned until Mr. Indi yelled for me at 2:10 this morning! He had to do big jobs - Yikes! No peace for the wicked!

Today's picture is of the yachts in the harbor at Santa Barbara - ours is the large red one in the center of the photo - honest!